Leaderboard

When Paul McCartney (the original one) was training his replacement (the current one) and teaching him their repertoire, Paul (the current one) was prone to wandering up the fretboard which frustrated Paul (the original one), who worried that his plans to abscond and live a normal life in Milton Keynes could be scuppered if Paul (the current one) didn't get everything just right. Things came to a head during one song when Paul (the original one) erupted and shouted at Paul (the current one) "MONEY? NEVER ABOVE THE FIFTH FRET!" James Jamerson happened to be outside walking past the slightly ajar window of the rehearsal room at that very moment and, even though he wasn't fluent in Liverpudlian, understood enough to get the gist, but interpreted it as "There is no money beyond the fifth fret." He told the story to his friend Carol Kaye who has since claimed credit for it.

I've got both, trust me, it doesn't guarantee success!🤣

Absolutely agree; IHMO the original '64 T'bird was the finest passive bass that Gibson ever produced. The "tune-a-matic" type bridge is a joy, and the pickups sublime - they're the units that Mike Lull and Thunderbucker Ranch "reverse engineered" for their Thunderbird pickups. Only downsize was the big headstock on a skinny mahogany neck with no volute; they had a strong tendency to snap at the top of the neck with any impact. I think the headstock on the bicentennial (and onwards) was smaller and thus stronger. Entirely gratuitous pic of my 1965 T'bird IV -

Ah, the old 'big bad PRS' thread raises it's ugly head again.... A few points: If you aren't a PRS member - you won't earn. That is unless you are published, get airplay/streamed and your publisher is honest enough to pass you a few scraps. If you are receiving commercial broadcast or airplay.... or you're gigging regularly in medium sized venues (oh, them were the days) then it's worth joining... If you are a PRS member then radio & TV airplay gets reported regularly and to a generally high standard by the Broadcasters, but if you know of any broadcast that you haven't received money for after approx 6 months then you can tell PRS direct. PRS has an unclaimed royalty file for all members who know they have had airplay but haven't received money (possibly due to incorrect or missing reporting). You can find your unpaid works there and claim them. If you are a PRS member and gigging then YOU should report your live performances. If they were ticketed events in arts centre size venues or above then they should be licensed to pay out on the % of box office. If they are smaller pubs etc then you may be able to claim a small compensation using the 'gigs & clubs scheme'. Do NOT leave it to the venue, or your band manager to do this, even if the venue ask you for a set list! Neither have any interest in you getting your money (unless you were stupid enough to give your band manager a % of PRS royalties...). It's called the music business, take care of your OWN business when you can...! If you are playing music on a radio/playback system etc in your workplace or on the shop floor then you are using music to create a 'pleasant working or customer experience'. That music is therefore doing a job and should receive a payment. Do workplace radios etc pay out exactly what was played? Of course not! That would be ridiculous in admin time, effort and costs. There'd be no money left! It IS paid out across a huge sample of music of different genres receiving heavier rotation at that time.... and then also paid out across lower earning music as well to attempt to redress the balance. It's an imperfect system, but as musicians/writers we should be glad that someone is giving it the necessary attention on our behalf... PRS is a non-profit making society, staffed by musicians, for musicians and is always trying to reduce costs/increase payouts. They are the #1 low admin cost/high payout royalty collection society in the World and have well known overseas composers flocking from other societies to join as a result. They also do solid work with new talent (PRS foundation/event sponsorship/showcases etc) and have a fund for older struggling composers going through hard times as well as other charitable, music promotional projects Are they perfect? No, far from it. No company is, especially in an ever changing environment (Covid, streaming, no live music, Brexshit etc). There are ALWAYS improvements to be made.... but their heart is in the right place and they are a huge force for good in lobbying Govts and industry organisations in protecting and maximising member rights. Directors earn salaries commensurate with any other highly experienced music industry professionals within the non-profit making area, but there are no fatcats per se.... As for this new tariff. It was agreed after consultation with all the major music industry bodies, but it is a fluid thing and expect there to be changes/improvements with time & experience. Sounds like I'm a salesman, right? Well, I'm just speaking from experience, having worked there for 25 years now, only on an average senior admin pay but proud to be assisting my fellow musicians and making a positive difference.

To look at the 'objectifying' point in a different way. Isn't it a little insulting to assume that both of these women are so dumb that they don't realise that wearing tight tops that are too small for their boobs to fit in is going to cause a reaction? I'd like to think that they're both intelligent enough to know exactly what they're doing, and confident enough not to need strangers defending them against the inevitable reaction. It isn't sexist, as@Silvia Bluejay has pointed out, men do exactly the same thing for exactly the same reaction. It's like someone tattooing their face, man or woman, remember it isn't a sex thing, and then complaining about not getting the job in customer facing. They tattooed their face to get a reaction, then got the reaction. We all do it to some degree don't we? Do none of choose our stage wear because of how it will make us look? In our Mod band we will often be suited, and it has to be the right style suit, not because they're comfy but because they put an image across. Does nobody wearing a t-shirt with a band logo on think that it portrays an image to the onlooker? We all make decisions partly based on looks and vanity, from clothing and hairstyles, to car choice and colour. How many home owners paint their house purely to protect the underlying building material? Or do they think when the house starts to look dirty with the black and green algae that grows on it, or the red stains that leach out of some, I'd better get this painted, it's looking terrible, what will people think of me? We all know that the things we do affect how people see us and the women in the OP are no different. They dressed for a reaction, and got a reaction.

Don't know what the fuss is about, I spotted the 'Happy' Jack Casady Bass on one of the clips, watched a further 10 seconds and moved on. If I want to see women singing Country or Americana I turn to Margot Price who's a lot more authentic IMHO. Here she is at Sun Studios a couple of years ago with a really good bassline too....

OK, this might go on a bit, but this is pretty much it. When I was a wee lad, Hamer were the new kids on the (guitar) block; sure, I was aware of Gibson/Fender etc. but my exposure to these brands was likely via Beat Instrumental, Top Of The Pops, the Bell catalogue (and so on). I can still remember the fevered, 'what was that guitar?' conversations at school the night after seeing Slade on TOTP where Dave Hill would be playing the Super Yob or a Burns Flyte. (This would never happen now, I suppose, which saddens me!) Anyhow, in the early 80s, Hamer were carrying out some fairly persuasive and proactive marketing...I'd go up to Denmark Street with my mates and many of the shops there had piles of these full colour US-letter sized flyers for the various Hamer models (The Special, Sunbursts, Vectors, Standards, Prototype - just type 'Hamer Flyers' into Google and you'll see how radical this was); we'd all pick up the flyers and have them taped to our bedroom walls when we got back. Despite none of us having the available coin to actually buy one, we did feel that Hamer was our brand, which was odd considering we were just a bunch of home-counties kids; Hamer were a little bit mental, a bit risky, a bit exciting and a bit edgy. We were all huge Cheap Trick fans too, which kind of sealed the deal. On one trip to the smoke, I happened upon the Cruisebass flyer below...early to mid-80s. There was a small pile of these postcard-sized things and the same shop also had the bass itself (in the same red and black livery) hanging on the wall and it was just beautiful. Cue angels singing. Smitten. The price tag was ridiculously expensive, my memory is clouded, but I think it was well over a grand, maybe £1,250 or more. Back then I was doing filing in an office and earning £250 a month, £50 of which went to my mum in housekeeping(!), so it was unattainable - which is why I ended up playing Ibanez stuff for so long (£187 for a Ibanez Roadster RS924 was pushing it). I was always looking for one; I'd owned other Hamer basses...a Scarab, Chapperal and I still have a FBIV (Thunderbird), but I've always wanted a Cruise. Sure other basses curried favour (predominantly Thunderbirds) and a couple bobbed to the surface for a while (Rickenbacker), but the Cruise was always there just under the surface, just rare enough for them to be out of reach, with sellers believing they're worth way more than they realistically are. I paid £600.00. I know it's not much, but think about it for a moment, it's a handmade (boutique?) bass, made in pretty small numbers by a team of less than a dozen luthiers in a little woodshop in the Chicago suburbs. These were the same people who made these made the guitars used by hundreds of bands from (love 'em/loathe 'em) Cheap Trick, Judas Priest, Skid Row, Kiss, Def Leppard, Lita Ford, The Police, Aerosmith, Nick Lowe, The Pretenders etc. etc. Roll forward to 2021, @cetera was the first of many to let me know this was up stupidly cheap. It was always coming to me...

Are you trying to be recreationally offended?

A lot of you will know because you signed the e-petition on the Gov.uk website and have had the email today but for those who haven't the matter will be discussed shortly On Monday 8 February the Petitions Committee will hold a virtual e-petition session to discuss arrangements for UK musicians in the EU. So maybe time to get your views into your MP for presentation to the session. It looks like the government will continue to blame the EU for the situation that has arisen as per the initial response to the e-petition, so I'm not expecting any great change but worth trying to raise the importance of the matter to your MP, there is clearly enough support amongst the population for a solution as the petition gained enough signatures to be debated very very quickly, most e-petitions get nowhere. I was going to add this to the original thread but it has been locked.

I can see the TV adverts in years to come. "Have you paid too much VAT? Are you due a repayment of customs duty that was unduly paid? Call us now on...."

There’s a useful Facebook post here from Fish, ex-singer from Marillion. It’s rather long, but well worth taking the time to read. It lists the various ways the current situation will impact touring. Bear in mind the guy has years of experience in international touring, what he’s saying is based on his experience, not on what some guy told him down the pub. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157827728953587&id=54830663586

Honestly, you all have no idea how pleased this makes me. I've lusted after one of these for about 30 years and snagged this one on eBay last week. Obviously, there's going to be good and bad stuff to consider when you're talking about a 35 year old guitar, so let's cover the bad stuff first (like you do). It was VERY grubby and unplayable out of the case; a frankly horrific back-bow on the neck (I slackened the truss rod by may two full turns), the bridge was at best 'gooped-up', so I needed to douse the part in WD40 to just allow the intonation and grub screws to move. The nut slots are quite wide, but the nut does its job, so no issues. The P-bass pickup wouldn't adjust up or down, took it out, the old foam wasn't doing anything, but more alarming across both elements of the pick-up, three magnets surrounding the poles had come out and two were magnetised to the other side (imagine two books next to each other with the poles between and then two on top of each other with the poles on the spines) - a chap on the Hamer Fan Club site enlightened me to the fact that 70/80s Di-Marzios were all prone to this problem. [Edit: I've added details further down the thread...the problem/solution might help someone in the future.] I've never seen anything like this before. After I reinstalled it (with springs and some soft foam underneath), I did feel that the D&G strings were quite a bit lower in output than the E&A. The strap buttons were loose, so I've taken these out and am waiting on some felts to arrive before I install a set of Dunlops. [Edit: I'll be cleaning the board and oiling it later today.] OK, moving to the aesthetics/good stuff, it does look fantastic to me. Paint is good (7.5/10), zero checking, but there is a bit of chipping around two of the machines and a little (inevitable) bucklerash on the rear (although no paint loss). It is very light (weee). [Edit: There's still a lot of meat on the frets.] After a set up and a bit of additional tweakage, it plays wonderfully, got the action down to what I'd class as 'clean with a bit of rattle. Tried it through the Darkglass and the dUg last night, I have to say it sounds decent enough through both, but feel that theDarkglass favours an active bass, this does sound nicer through the dUg. Nice dirt/grunt with everything open. Neck is lovely... Moving forward. Hmm. I will get a (black) scratchplate cut for it at some point, but no rush. While I do love a tweak, so at some point I'll swap out the pickups and loom. Again, no rush. This bass was more about the getting than anything else, I'm happy with it as it stands. I'll be 100% after I've done with the tweaks. Might even stain the board...

Still just cheap shots that would not have made a thread if it featured a worse band with no women displayed like that. Some people here are showing their true character and it's pretty disappointing.

A locking mechanism that prevents volume being increased above sound check values on instrument, amplifier and pedals. Fitted to guitarist and operated by bass player.

Serial number checks out at feb 2005. One of the last built by SLM in St. Louis. I really do wonder why it looks and smells like a brand spanking new amp. Zero traces of any use.

Hi, I’ve just finished my lockdown project Harley Benton kit, and I’m chuffed with the results. I have only dabbled with playing the bass guitar over my 50 years of playing guitars but needed one for some lockdown home recording. I know I’m not a real bassist but it pains me to say I’m really enjoying playing it. I now it’s bad having the Fender decal but I won’t be selling it. No it’s not a wrap it’s stretch fabric like used for leggings. It’s stuck on front and back only. I only choose that fabric because it allows the fabric to go into the con curved part on the back. Because the fabric was quite thick I had to use lots of layers of rustins plastic coating to fill all the wholes. When it’s hard you can cut and blend in the edges. When you have enough depth of coating I sanded it flat and handed over to my son who a car sprayer. He blacked out the edges to hide where the fabric is blended in then lacquered it. Look on YouTube there’s a few people doing it.

This seems to be where I left it, so almost done, but I'm all about my new build currently, hopefully can share soon! Got the fingerboard gluing to the neck now!

Then do it yourself. It's quick and easy and there is no reason not to. If your compositions are any good their ability to generate performance royalties will well surpass the life of the band that originally recorded them. I still earn performance royalties on songs I recorded and released over 40 years ago. And as I write and record more music my back catalogue builds up, which is more potential royalty earning sources.

One of the things I always liked in those early brochures were the suggested rig combinations, which a few people above have commented on. It might be fun to comment on any sightings of some of these combinations. The one I always remember was Doug Wimbish when he came to Australia with Living Colour. His rig was 4 AH500s (or AH600, I can't remember which), 4 * 1048 (4*10"), and 4 * 1518 (1*15") - so basically, 4 stacks. I saw them in concert, but he also did a presentation at a local music show, and it's difficult to explain how loud he was - I'm pretty sure Sydney Airport probably rang him up to ask him to turn down a bit as the Jumbo pilots were having a hard time telling if the engines had started up or not!

I have 2 basses and I’d use them on any gig. All my basses are bought to gig. That’s the only reason I own them. If a gig was rough enough to cause me to worry about my gear, I’d be more worried about my safety and probably wouldn’t be doing those gigs anyway. When my bass isn’t being played I’ll store it in the bag at the back of the stage, behind the gear. I’ll mostly use the P bass at home, because it sounds better at low volume.

Brilliant thread DiMarco. Thanks for sharing it with us. I remember that Mark V catalog, I had it and probably read it 1000 times before I eventually got a Mark V AH250. TE were really difficult to get in Australia, and insanely expensive, but the sound - wow! I kept the amp for years, gigged it for years, and never had an issue with it. Just the best kit for bass.

For 1 year of playing, you have done a good job there Caz. Family Man plays buy the neck, Robbie Shakespeare plays back by the bridge pickup. Where you're playing is fine, you'll find your sound with time. A lot of your sound will come from the combination between left and right hand. Keep doing what your doing and listen to the detail in the note length and you'll be fine.

@Raslee has sent me the neck - and what a nice neck it is But yes - it does have issues. As @Raslee says above, the truss rod is broken, but as he also mentions, there is a significant bow set in the neck. And there's a bit more - the fretboard is actually coming away from the neck. You can see both the bow and the separation here: I suspect that the trussrod, trying manfully to counteract the above bow plus the extra bow from the string tension, finally started to pop the board off. So far, though, there doesn't seem to be anything unfixable. First job is therefore taking off the fretboard and having a look at what's going on under there...

You mean some people have a different opinion? Well, hell, we'd better not post anything just in case someone doesn't agree with us.... Yep, that'd help!

Ain't Gonna Cry No More from Whitesnake's Live In The Heart Of The City (1980). My playing is a bit messy on this - sorry, too much adrenalin! Ain't Gonna Cry No More (live).pdf

Well, for anyone who might be interested (based on the previous response, probably no-one😂), I bit the bullet and bought some TI Jazz flats, just to try on one of my 4001s. First impressions is that they are much growlier (or should that be raspier?) than expected. They have a real bark down low. They’re also pretty trebly compared to what I expected, although my understanding is that’ll die off somewhat. They’re also - at least given I can’t try them in a band situation - very clear-sounding. The note seems more “present” than many rounds do. They’re not at all woolly unless you start turning the tone controls down. I’ll try a bit of recording this weekend, see how they fare. In terms of tension, they’re stiffer-feeling than I expected, or rather the D & G are. Only marginally softer feeling than my usual Roto 40-100 Swing Bass (I haven’t had to touch the neck) and noticeably stiffer than the 35-95 nickel Rotos, which surprised me, although matches the tension figures in my first post. Do I like them? Early days. I like the growl, particularly on the E & A and they do feel nicely balanced, with the exception of the G (a 43) which to me feels far stiffer than the other strings, and which I’m not keen on. I prefer a more flexible-feeling G. I doubt they’ll replace my usual strings, but I’ve got them if I decide I need them. If that G was lighter though, it may be a different story. It’s certainly a different sound, and not the flatwound sound I’ve experienced previously.

£1.90 Tell you what Ricky, I'll do your sourcing for 50% of the savings!

I got lucky and managed to pick up a Schaller 471 off eBay from a guy in the States. $74.99 shipped was a bit of a bargain. I'm (very slowly) converting an Epiphone T-bird to an 8 string.

Got it today, just put it through an hour or so of playing along to songs on YouTube. First impressions are it’s a heavy, quality piece of kit, like all Ashdown gear imo the sound on its own is ok but in the mix it excels, and that the drive is far too much for my needs. I can get a just breaking up sound from it though, so it’s not unusable. I think for my classic rock band it will be the ideal backup on a pedalboard option, but certainly home use is where it’s at for me, I get that great sit in the mix Ashdown sound at home volumes. Later on I might get the valve changed as others have but no rush. Edit - what I forgot to mention was the fact that even boosting the treble & high mids the sound doesn’t get harsh, there’s obviously a greater definition when they’re boosted but none of the brittleness you can get with some pedals - and indeed, amps. The sound has that warm “spongey” feel to it that comes with valves, and the D & G strings don’t sound thin in comparison to the E & A, always a good sign of a great piece of kit. So far I’ve tried it with a Precision with CS62 pickups, a Jazz with CS62 pickups and a Precision with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders. Once I’d established a core sound I’ve found it can be pretty much left alone and each bass sounds great in its own right.

Hi folks. Just in case there is a Sandberg enthusiast here who doesn't browse the classifieds, I currently have my VS4 up for sale... 👍🏻 Cheers

When you consider the coronavirus rules, I think you'll find that the rules for import /export from Europe are crystal clear.

What something like this which I used to have and is now lovingly cared for by @DJ '65

I have a small amount of experience regarding PRS by way of questioning licence fees for playing music in my tattoo shop. My MP at the time was David Milliband and via him questions were asked at the Commons Mixed Media Committee. Long story short, the way their company is set up, they appear quite benevolent and all I got from this was a letter on House of Commons stationery. I do not belief they work in the best interests of musicians, but rather to maximise payments to Directors.

Here's for you guys that like the Ernest Ranglin instrumental style.

I can only speak for myself but I regretted selling mine. I thought it was a "cheap" way to see if I liked features not usually available on lefty basses before I invested in a more expensive instrument. In actual fact if you gig regularly and you need something rock solid and inexpensive I don't think you can beat a Sire. If only the headstock wasn't so ugly I think people could love them like they do other brands (joking, you don't look at the headstock when you're tickling the dusty end). I'd had some active basses before, two and three band, and could never get my head around them. This may make me sound like an idiot. However the Sire active system was just intuitive to me, and I have not really grasped what they mean by sweep-able mids or care what Hz I'm tweaking, but for me it was easy to get that bass where I wanted it sound wise. As easy as my 3 band Stingray which is bass, mid, treble. The second hand value of the Sires is poor because they're so cheap and easily available new, better still on B stock. I felt like I was giving mine away, and I really regret it, because now I don't have a fretted 5 string and the best fretted 5 strings for me are the Sire V7 or M series! I'd say if you're curious and you have the cash get a second hand one for peanuts and you'll see what the fuss is about. Is it as "good" as my MIJ Fender? No, but not far off. Is it more tonally flexible? Yes. Would I be happier leaving it on a stand at a break in a gig than my MIJ Fender? YES.

Unrelated to the topic in hand, there was (and probably still is) an interesting blog post on Fish's website, maybe 10 years old, about the costs of touring (generally, not a Brexit related thing), costs, who takes what, ways he's found to keep it viable, and how many times he's had to remortgage his home to keep at it, etc. It was a really good read. Related to the topic, my MP is the culture secretary, a typical party line yes man... I shall of course lean on him, but I know from previous dealings with him that I may as well try to nail water to the ceiling.

I posted on another thread about a left handed Musicman Sterling which i ended up ordering from Thomann's on the 15/01/2021. I had been waiting a few months before Brexit hoping that it would come in stock beforehand, sadly it came in about 10-11 days after...sods law. I did try & source one from the Musicman distributor in the UK but they informed me that there were no lefties, & none becoming available in 2021!! As Thomann's only had one in stock I bit the bullet & ordered. Prior to Brexit the price seemed to fluctuate between £2030 - £2050 from what i can recall. Price after brexit was £1699 ( no VAT added ). It was shipped on the 16th by the UPS, & seemed to sale through Germany. I received an email on the Thursday night ( 21/01 ) saying that i owed charges totally £399.71, which was the ball park figure i had worked out around the £400 mark. Government Charges - £388.21 Brokerage Charges - £11.50 On the Friday (22/01), it appeared to cross into the UK, as the app showed it had been imported & accepted into Stanford Le Hope. Then there was nothing...... With no apparent movement or update since the Friday i decided to visit my local UPS depot yesterday, as it's only a few miles away in Sedgefield, & definitely better than trying to get through on the phone. That seemed to do the trick & last night it actually cleared customs, something i assumed had happened last week reading the app, but at least it's back on the move. The girl at the depot did mention that there is a huge backlog at Stanford Le Hope with goods trying to get through customs. Fingers crossed it gets here in piece. I would say to anyone buying from Thomann's now, don't expect a quick delivery, mine looks like it's going to be at least two weeks, & a few heart in mouth moments when you think you parcel has been lost.....saying that there's still time for that to happen!!

Wow, don't know how I missed this thread until now - absolutely beautiful work there @Cosmicrain @Bass Culture is one lucky guy! Now the question is, could you make a 34" scale 6 string version for me 😁

I have two basses (Precision & Jazz) for home use, and the same again for live. They’re all worth the same amount, it’s just that my home use Precision has too much sentimental value to take out, and I do like to only use my band basses with the band to keep the strings as fresh as possible. Daft and expensive method, but it suits me doing it this way.

Or the sacking of the lighting engineer or camera person?

I aim to go back to the rehearsal space and have another play. I can only really use my phone but maybe that's better than nothing. Maybe I'll end up a wealthy influencer!! 🙂

I'm kind of torn... Normally I would have said no-plate, as the top looks just so sweet. However, the more I look at it without the plate, the bigger and bigger that bell plate starts to look, and in need of the scratchplate the off-set it.

Given that the performers appear to be objectifying themselves, what's the problem?